Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Danger from who?”
“Men like us. Men who are wolves.”
“Wolves? Like werewolves.”
“Yes, but they don’t just change on the full moon. They’re like us. Hybrid creatures who can shift at will.”
“And they want to hurt me?”
“They want to hurt us. You’re just collateral damage.”
I shake my head, trying to clear the confusion and disbelief from the facts and truths. “Why do they want to hurt you?”
“It’s the way it’s always been. In the beginning, it was a fight for territory. The more that human settlements expanded, the fewer wild areas there were for us. We need to be able to live part of the time in our animal form or we feel caged. The forests have been destroyed and what’s left isn’t enough for us to live side by side without conflict. Apex predators don’t mix.”
“So you fight?”
“Yes.”
“And what happens? You defend your territory?”
“Yes.”
“And what if you get injured?”
“We do.”
I pause, studying him, trying to decide if I want to know the answer to the next question.
“Seriously? Like, could you die?”
“Yes.”
I recoil. The thought of this other violent world that exists beneath the veneer of normal human society is so alien, I struggle to process its reality.
“We can keep you safe here. My brothers and I will protect you. And, if in the process of you staying here, you find that you want to stay—”
“And if I don’t?” I can’t think about the connection he believes we have. Not now. Not after he’s bombarded me with everything else.
“Let’s not talk about that right now, okay?”
“Brushing things under the carpet doesn’t make them go away. Locking things behind doors doesn’t make them disappear.”
Robert nods, removes his hands from his pockets, and walks slowly closer to me. This time, I don’t stop him. His hand cups my jaw, tipping my face up to his.
“For whatever reason, you’re made for us, Goldie. And I know it doesn’t make sense to you right now, but that’s okay. In time, I have every confidence that it will. And when it happens, we won’t need to worry about the things we’ve brushed under the carpet or locked behind a door. Will you trust me?”
“Do I have a choice?”
He takes a deep breath and exhales. “Not really, but let’s pretend you do. Let’s pretend that this is a date that’s gone really well. A date that we don’t want to end.”
“I don’t have to pretend that,” I say, and I’m not lying. I would have wanted to stay with Robert had he not intended me to leave. I’m incomprehensibly comfortable with him, which I now wonder has something to do with what he’s told me. If we’re destined to be together, is that why my body calls to him when we’re close? Is that why I’m not screaming and running when he’s touching me with his human hand that’s sometimes clawed and fury?
“So we go to bed, and you get to hang out with me and my brothers in the morning. We find out what happened at your store, we make you something good for breakfast, and we show you exactly why staying here will make you endlessly happy.”
I shake my head, but I can’t help but smile. “That’s a lot to achieve in one morning.”
Robert leans in to kiss my lips softly, his hands grazing my upper arms over my elbows until they reach to hold my hands. Instinctively, I tug my hands away, the memory of his bear paw still fresh. Touching him now feels different from before. I’m no longer confident what I’ll find; skin or fur? What changes him from human to bear and back again? I’ve seen that he can force a change, but are there circumstances that bring out his conversion?
“It’s okay. I’m just me. The human me,” he whispers. His expression breaks my heart.
“You won’t change while we’re sleeping?”
Robert shakes his head. “It’s something I can control,” he says. “Unless there’s danger.”
I should be screaming and clawing at the window to get out, I should be panicking and trembling and terrified, but inside I’m strangely calm as if this destiny is already working its magic on me. I should be pushing back, resisting the ease with which I’m facing the unbelievable, but I can’t seem to find the will.
This feels like such a significant moment. Can I really fall asleep next to this man? This bear?
For all the confusion and uncertainty, there's one thing that I’m sure of.
Robert won’t hurt me.
But I can’t be so sure about his brothers or the creatures that lurk outside in the forest, waiting for me.
17
ROBERT
I let Goldie slide into bed first, taking my time in the bathroom. When I emerge, fresh from the shower, she’s curled on her side beneath the covers. I pad across the hardwood floor, flicking on the lamp on my nightstand and crossing the room to turn off the main light. The lamplight casts a dim yellow glow over my side of the bed, leaving Goldie in shadows.